February 2021
Wednesday, Feb 3 Early morning walk at Ward's Pond, all frozen over. Noticed a new wood duck nesting box, replacing the old, weathered, grey one on the other side of the pond by the little marsh. One spring, walking there, I laughed at seeing a pair of wood ducks perched on top of the old box, looking for all the world like they had just been to a realtor's open house and were discussing the pros and cons of the box for their eggs. Wood ducks like to nest over or near water as their ducklings are precocious, leaping out of the nest a day after hatching, stubby little wings frantically held out to slow their descent. The PBS show Nature has an amusing video clip of a wood duckling's leap here.
The Cornell All About Birds website notes that female wood ducks engage in "egg-dumping", laying eggs in another pairs' nest box to be raised by the other female. Unusually large clutches of nearly 30 eggs have been found in some nest boxes, about triple the average clutch size. Plentiful artificial nest boxes may have made egg-dumping more common.
Later in the day, at a zoom meeting with the technical support person at Peabody Essex Museum
to get ready for my talk on feathers in a couple of days, I noticed behind him his cat stepping off its "cat wheel", like a giant, 4 foot diameter hamster wheel. I'd never heard of a cat wheel
before...
Thursday, Feb 4 Went for a morning walk in the Arboretum hoping to find a great horned owl nest among the conifers. A pair nested there last year, using a "starter" nest that the Arb provided, a small platform covered with sticks hidden in one of the trees. Great horned owls don't build their own nests; instead, they take over a suitable nest, often from a pair of red-tailed hawks, from a previous year. When Jeannie and I were living near the Forest Hills Cemetery, one morning I saw a red-tailed hawk flying towards the pines near Walk Hill St, carrying a sizeable stick in its beak. Looking in that area over the next few days, I found the nest. The following year, great horned owls took it over; we delighted in seeing the fuzzy owlets over the several weeks it took for them to fledge. On this morning's walk, I didn't see a nest, but did enjoy the snow in the conifers (and the snowman in the bottom right corner of the photo).
Friday, February 5 Out on my early morning walk with Maddie, I see a hawk passing us in the opposite direction on Myrtle St, not far above the rooftops of the houses, flapping hard, flying fast. It's gone in just a second; red-tailed hawks have been clocked at up to 40 mph in flapping flight and Cooper's and sharp-shinned hawks at up to 55mph. And 40 mph is equivalent to 60 feet per second. It's exciting to see it flying so fast; usually when I see a hawk in flight, it's gently circling or perhaps landing on a branch.
Then, as we turn the corner on Myrtle, I gasp at the sunrise, looking like the city is on fire.
Further along, on Eliot St. we pass a hedge, the leaves outlined in frost, making them look even more delicate. I love noticing little details like this on our walks.
After my walk with Maddie, I have breakfast and head out for a brisker walk on my own. I am taken with the snow covering the ice on Willow Pond.
Saturday, February 6 Early morning sunrise at Wards Pond, beautiful with the sun coming through the trees, gleaming off the ice.
On our afternoon walk, I take a closer look at the blue bucket that has been hanging from a tree in front of a house on Eliot St for a few days and see that, yes, indeed, it has a spigot and is collecting sap. Who knew someone was maple sugaring in Jamaica Plain!
Tuesday, February 9. Ponds still frozen over, with only small open areas near where they drain to the next stream. Still seeing lots of Canada geese and mallards and a few mute swans crowded into these openings but the hooded mergansers, wood ducks, ruddy ducks and ring-billed ducks seem to have moved on to where the fishing is better.
Thursday, February 11. Still cold in the early morning, sky piercingly blue, shadows along the footpath through the woods between Wards Pond and Leverett Pond.
At Leverett Pond, a pair of northern shovellers, close up against the bank of the pond in the small bit of open water where the pond drains into the Muddy River. The female belted kingfisher at Willow Pond. I hadn't seen her for a few days and thought she had moved on, with the ponds being nearly completely frozen over. But she's still hanging around.
Friday, February 12. The Canada geese all gathered together, facing the same way, at that small bit of open water on Leverett Pond.
And in the afternoon, I see that a second maple sap bucket has appeared at another house on Eliot St.
Saturday, February 13. A red-bellied woodpecker working its way up a dead tree trunk in the woods near Willow Pond, probing here and there, hopping up a few more steps, probing again, until it gets to the top of the tree and flies off.
On our afternoon walk, a bush in a front yard, iced over from melting snow dripping from the roof above, looking like a fantastic sculpture.
Sunday February 14. At Leverett Pond 2 male common mergansers, hanging out together, staying apart from the small group of mallards gathered there. Looking huge and elegant with their gleaming white sides, black backs and greenish black heads.
And in the NY Times obituaries today, a small notice for Robert Gould Shaw IV, born in 1928. I wondered if he was related to the Robert Gould Shaw who led the first all black regiment, the 54th Massachusetts, during the Civil War; with that name, I think he must have been.
Monday February 15. At Leverett Pond, at the start of my walk, a single common merganser in the small patch of open water where yesterday there were 2; when I came back later on, 2 females had joined it, swimming together, diving once while I watched. Also a pair of Northern shovellers in the same little patch of open water, swimming close together with their heads up, not doing their usual routine of running their shovel-like bills just below the water surface to gather up little invertebrates. Wonderful to see them all.
At Willow Pond, saw the female kingfisher flying fast, just ahead of me, from my right to left, then swirl around and go past me the other way, then turned again and flew off across the pond and beyond. Loudly screeching its kak-kak-kak call the entire time. And just as it turned away, a juvenile red-tailed hawk flew in, landing on a tree branch, staying there just a moment before flying over to a nearby branch. All very exciting! Red-tails hunt smaller birds and I wondered if it was after the kingfisher. I walked along the path, closer to the hawk, to get a good look at it; it seemed unperturbed, settling in. I pointed it out to a runner who came along the path and we both took photos.
I continued on Brookline Ave to take a look at the dredging being done along the little stream of Muddy River that runs parallel to the street; it definitely looked wider than the last time I'd been there about a month ago. A few geese and mallards, but none of the wood ducks that I often see there. Crossing Brookline Ave and following the river a little further, in a secluded bit I saw three green-winged teal, two males with one female, hanging out right at the far edge of the river. On the way back, they had all nodded off to sleep, their bills tucked under their wings. Lovely.
I just love that there is so much to see, so close to home, even in the city.
Thursday February 19. The two female common mergansers were still at Leverett Pond this morning. Light snow started around dinner time and continued through the night and all day Friday, accumulating aboout 6" of fluffy snow. The photo is Jamaica Pond on Friday morning.
Saturday February 20. My usual morning walk was wonderful with all the fresh, clean white snow brightening everything. Not too many birds: great blue heron standing in the water at Willow Pond. At Leverett Pond a great black backed gull standing on the ice pecking at something; as it picked it up it looked like a fish. Another gull standing nearby, hoping for scraps. A hawk screeching, flying overhead. A few photos:
Ward's Pond
Leverett Pond
And a raptor snow sculpture at Leverett Pond, about 3' high
The Emerald Necklace Conservancy has illuminated several of the bridges along the Necklace. This evening, around 6pm, when it was very still, with a perfect half moon, I went to have a look at a few. Here is the bridge at the south end of Leverett Pond, where I've been seeing the kingfisher, the northern shovelers and the common mergansers.
And here is the bridge that carries Longwood Ave over the Muddy River. There were little clusters of people around the bridge and walking along the pathway. Some with tripods and serious cameras taking photos. A group of 3 young people under the bridge with a guitar, one wearing a baseball cap that said "MATH". I stopped to tell him I liked his hat and worked at MIT which made them laugh; another pointed out her hat which actually was from MIT (but was hard to read in the dark). I walked further down the path, enjoying the fresh snow, the still water, the brisk air. When I returned, the group was still under the bridge and I asked if they'd been singing (they did have a guitar, after all). They said they had just stopped; they were trying out the under-the-bridge acoustics as they were planning a little concert there next weekend. When I said something about wanting to hear them, the woman with the guitar sang a couple of verses of Amazing Grace for me. So wonderful.
Sunday February 21. Morning walk in the Arboretum, along the footpath over the drumlin, in a wooded area, I heard a less common bird song. I'm not good at identifying bird song, but I just recognized this one as different from the usual songs that I hear. After a minute or two of peering in the general direction of the sound, I found a wren on a branch, singing its heart out. Really lovely. Looking up wrens in the field guide when I got home, I think it was a Carolina wren; if you click on the link you can hear its song.
Monday February 22. A lone wood duck on Leverett Pond. I hadn't seen one for a while, so it was fun to see one again.
Wednesday, February 24. At Leverett Pond in the early morning, two female and 3 male common mergansers and a pair of hooded mergansers, the male manipulating a fish in its bill. (But manipulating derives from the Latin manus, or hand - is it still manipulating if it's using its bill?)
At home, noticed snowdrop shoots starting to poke up where the snow is newly melted.
Thursday February 25. After a couple of warm, sunny days, Leverett Pond has opened up, clear of ice along its entire length, although some ice remains along the sides of the pond. A dozen common mergansers. Where do they go when the pond freezes over and how do they know to come back once it's ice-free again? Are they making daily reconnaissance flights to check it out?
In the afternoon, warm and sunny again, walking Maddie at the Arboretum, saw a little group of snowdrops in bloom. Definite sign of spring!
Friday February 26. This morning, 20 common mergansers and 7 hooded mergansers at Leverett Pond, swimming along the length of the pond, diving, fishing. Wonderful to see them closer than usual. A downy woodpecker working its way along a branch, probing for insects. In the next few weeks, the woodpeckers will start drumming on hollow branches, to announce their territory and attract a mate.
Another warm, sunny day. Spring feels like it's definitely on the way. A relief after the pandemic winter of holing up, hunkered down at home.
Saturday February 27. Out with Maddie around 6:30am, walking by Jamaica Pond, a hawk flew in front of us, flapping hard, going along the shore of the pond. On Myrtle St. I looked up from Maddie's snuffling the ground to see a squirrel facing me, right at eye level, about 2 feet away, perched on a fence post. I think we both were startled; it hesitated for a few seconds and then ran off along the top of the fence, back into the yard. Maddie noticed nothing, still snuffling the ground.
A little later on I drove to Leverett Pond and went for another walk there, looking for the mergansers from yesterday. 15 common mergansers, almost all swimming to the northern end of the pond; when I turned around on my walk and went back in that direction, about half of them were gone, flown off. Three hoodies, looking sharp.
On our evening walk, a big full silver moon behind a thin haze of cloud.
Sunday February 28. Leverett Pond this morning, the ice is entirely melted, except for a tiny patch by the small islands near the bank of the pond. About 15 common mergansers still on the pond, lots of diving and grooming. One flew from one end of the pond to the other and around in a loop, looking sleek, going fast. A pair of hoodies. I wonder how much longer they're going to hang around before heading north again.
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